Journey
by Luxord52
Summary: A world wrought of iron and steel, forged in the fires of the beginning, tempered by the vast darkness, and sought after by the old ones. A world where great men and women are born, live, and die. A world that the rest of the world is only aware of peripherally. A world of assassins and spies. A world of Ninja.
1. Fall

The leaves shook in his wake, branches rustling under his weight as he flew across the forest. The birds chirping in the distance, the whisper of the wind through the trees, the sound flowed around him, a calming backdrop to the noise of his head. The noise that had started three years ago, when he entered the academy. The noise that had provided him with valuable knowledge, techniques, and ideas. The noise known as the Kyubi.

It had been three years ago to the day that he had entered for the academy, three years ago that he had heard a rumbling within his mind, three years ago that he had first heard it's voice. The voice that was currently telling him to duck or else the ANBU that was above him would catch him. He followed the advice, his body tucking into a roll as the ANBU snapped down, attempting to catch their prey. The wind rushed around him, seeming to push him onward as he narrowly escaped the attempt, calmly pulling out of the roll in time to spring off the next branch. Another warning, this time from below. A smirk grew on his face as he blurred to whatever chasers might have an eye on him, before taking the tackle at full speed, only to pass straight through the attacker. A branch, seemingly innocent wrapped itself around his leg as he landed on the next branch, only for the leg to disappear in a puff of smoke, the body quickly following suit, revealing the scarred body of a fourteen year old, a prosthetic leg and arm taking the place of his right arm and left leg, wearing a sleeveless black military outfit with silver trappings, and a red cloak around him. He turned, a cheeky grin on his face as his chasers approached him, three figures melting out of the forest.

"Finally caught me, eh Kurenai?" He called out as the three ANBU removed their masks, revealing a set of faces quite familiar to him, the brunette on the right shaking her head in disbelief, her bright red eyes flickering to where the branch had reverted to its previous state, no sign of the growth from before. The man in the middle, who was in possession of a rather astounding quantity of grey, spikey hair despite his evident youth, muttered something about how genjutsu was almost cheating, while the man on the furthest right grinned right back at him, pulling a cigarette from a seemingly never ending pouch on his hip, next to a white sash with an emblem inside of a red circle.

"If you didn't have that fox in ya, I would've caught you on that last move. Well done with the wind manipulation, but you still need to work on allowing the currents to take you, not saturating them with your chakra to force a direction. It knows where you want to go, and if you let it you'll use much less energy to do it Naruto." The smoker replied.

"If he hadn't used that phasing move that I believe _you_ taught him, I would be the one bragging, but it seems he had other ideas Asuma." Said the man in the middle, glaring at him as he said so. "It's not like he'll even have use of that for another few years, but I suppose it's a good thing that he's getting practice with it."

Naruto chuckled at that, looking over his teachers. Asmua wore the traditional military uniform of Hi no Kuni, similar to the one he wore himself, save that it was the regulation dark blue, and that Asuma had quite a few ranks on him, as denoted by the epaulets. Kakashi, the grey haired man in the middle wore the same uniform as Naruto, with the addition of built in armor taking up the forearms of his sleeves and the fronts of his calves. Kurenai wore a uniform of the same color as Asuma, with her long black hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. He had trained under them for the last three years, being assigned them after the initial tests, placed with them for the wind manipulation he could learn under Asuma, the stealth from Kurenai, and the assassination skills he was gaining from Kakashi. He wasn't their only student, nor did they always work together. He and his cohort had been split into individual programs upon their competency tests, himself being placed in the Infiltration and Assassination program, along with Sasuke Uchiha and Sai, both joining him for his stealth and assassination trainings, but heading off for their own elemental manipulation.

The other members of what had been known as the Rookie Ten throughout their early education had all gone to different programs, Hinata Hyuga and Sakura Haruno going into Medic training together, with their secondary programs being Scouting and Close Combat respectively. Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame had both gone into Tracking and Retrieval, while Ino Yamanaka had gone into Torture and Interrogation, a task she had evidently taken to with relish. Shikamaru Nara had placed into Intelligence and Strategy, while Choji Akimichi had been sent off to Close Combat and Poisons. They had all had relatively little contact over the last three years as compared to the five before where they had all received their general education, only having occasional breaks where they would meet up, and share some of the tales of their training.

The years had been harsh on all of them, as their training took them on actual missions, including the one that lost Naruto his arm and leg, while Sasuke had lost an eye, and Sai had lost a hand, which still irritated the pale boy to this day, claiming the replacement didn't have the full range of maneuverability, reducing his skill with a brush. Naruto always replied by either flipping him off, or giving him a kick, reminding him that some had gotten off less luckily that day. Sasuke had slightly mourned the loss, until he was able to get a new eye from an Uchiha who had died in a training accident, and left his eyes to those who had lost them. The replacement had been a near thing, as his chakra almost rejected it, until he turned on his sharingan and the proper connections to his coils had formed. The largest side effect he'd found was the ability to turn them on and off individually, which left him with a rather large headache if done for too long.

Naruto pulled himself out of his thoughts as Kakashi tossed him a scroll. He quickly unrolled and read it over, before staring at his teachers.

"They want me in the Sealing Corps?" He asked, excitement, confusion, and wonder all playing across his normally schooled face.

"Yup. Report first thing tomorrow, along with Sai. Sasuke's being sent to Torture, you should see him again in a month or two. Oh, and before I forget; Well done. You've graduated from Infiltration and Assassination." Asuma said. He paused a moment, allowing the knowledge to sink into the Uzumaki, before starting up again. "And a gift from us to you, same as we gave the other two." He tossed another scroll at Naruto.

He unrolled it, and tapped the tightly knit seal in the center with a burst of chakra. The seal splayed out, its coils unrolling and stretching to fill the space the small scroll allowed. Naruto glanced at the design; a mixture of the Uzumaki's whorls, the Uchiha's angles, and the Hyuga's flowing script. Clearly a design that was worth quite a bit to the village, as he noted the self destruct array built into the bottom left. He watched and waited for the seal to settle down, and after another flick of the arrays, it fell into place. His jaw dropped open as he read off the contents and effects of the seal.

"New armor, another cloak, an equipping glyph... And a summons contract? Damn. Central must have been impressed by our last evaluations. What contract?" He said, whistling a low note as he read and reread the contents.

"For you? What else would we have gotten you? I mean, it's not like we knew any of you would settle for any old creature contract. We went bigger." Kakashi replied.

Naruto took a moment to process that, before slamming his left palm down on the center of the seal. Beneath his fingers, the seal curled back up almost instantly, before flowing up onto his arm, and centering itself on his shoulder, the signature Uzumaki Whorl forming out of the seal. He slapped the seal with his right hand, watching as it spread, before a darkness seeped out over his arm, and took to the air around it, obscuring it momentarily before dispersing, revealing a pauldron and a bracer, connected along his upper arm by a few segments of black and silver plate armor. The pauldron itself put out flanges above and a bit beyond his shoulder, and was a matte black, save for the dark red gem inset with the middle of the pauldron, facing away from his body. The bracer was the same red as the gem, and ended in a fingerless black leather glove. He checked his new cloak, which matched the bracer and gem in color, and had the Uzumaki whorl in the center of his back.

He tapped the gem on the pauldron, having witnessed countless times as superiors used the armor's storage, catching the scroll that fell out, and immediately opened it, jumping over the name of the contract, and moving onto the previous summoners. All of their signatures were a dark black, indicating that the contract had no current summoners, and more importantly, no-one to pass on the contract.

"A dead contract? Wouldn't this have been better used by a small clan to help them gain some renown?"

"Read the species again. Carefully this time." At this, he reread the title he'd glanced over, shock slowly appearing on his face as he understood again.

"You got me the Kitsunes. THE Kitsunes. As in; The species I have the Boss Summons of stuck in my head."

"Yup." His teachers chorused with practiced ease, the amusement clear on their faces. Asuma took the moment to speak up, biting down on a chuckle as he did.

"Even better, they're rather well known for both their shape-shifting, and their wind manipulation. If I recall correctly, the legend goes that a single kitsune caused a storm with a flick of its tail, while the Kyubi was rather well known for it's legendary siege of Kaze no Kuni with a hundred day sandstorm, and that was only because it snored in its sleep."

Hearing the voice in his head chuckle at the story, he shook his head. "Kyubi chuckled at that. That's never a good sign."

"Maybe so, but regardless, the contract's your's now. Do what you will with it, but I do recommend getting in contact with the current boss other than Kyubi to let them know who you are. They get rather bored with no-one to talk to."

Naruto quickly nicked his left thumb on a carefully placed portion of his prosthetic, the hidden edge slicing a small cut into his digit, before signing his name with the blood, and shook off the glove of his armor to smear blood across his palm and press it into the paper, the seals within the contract ensuring that even a small amount was enough, and that the blood dried the instant it was in place. Naruto pulled his glove back on, glancing over to his teachers who gave him a nod for his troubles, and slit his thumb again. He ran through the seals he'd practiced a hundred times in preparation for this day, and slapped his hand down again.

A rush of smoke flooded the clearing they'd stopped in, climbing up to the treetops before swirling back down, compacting into an orb the size of a fist, and then whirling into itself, disappearing as it did. Naruto glanced around, no sign of the usual massively sized summon, only the whisper of the wind in the trees. And then the whisper spoke.

"You who wish to be our summoner, must answer me these questions three, or we shall return whence we came, and remove the contract from your presence. Will you take this test, aware of the consequences of failing, and of irritating us beyond measure with your failure?"

"I shall." He muttered, allowing the wind to take his words and spread them throughout the clearing, watching the trees at the perimeter for any sign of movement.

"Answer this young ninja; What walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?"

"Man. Or Kitsune, if they so prefer."

"Your attempt at humor has been noted, but shall not help you, not yet. Answer me this: What moves as quickly as a newborn's breath, as surely as the old man's sigh, and with the strength of a young man's cry?"

"The wind, or perhaps the ninja. One might even assume you intend to imply yourself with this."

"Again the humor has been noted. Final question: Who shall rise and who shall fall before the end of it all?"

"The Kyubi? Perhaps man shall fall, but I think you mean more than that. I think you mean something a bit more abstract. I do believe you mean the sun."

"Then hear my words. The newest summoner, now tried and true, with bright blond hair, and armor too. He who shall tear apart the world, and remake it in his image, He who shall wreck havoc across entire countries for the simple purpose of helping a friend. He who shall decide the fate of a great battle to come, and He who shall repair that which has gone wrong. I name thee Naruto Uzumaki, Summoner of the Winds." The winds grew as the voice increased in volume, before all fell quiet as it uttered Naruto's new title. The orb of smoke appeared again, growing from nothing to spill out into reality, the wisps quickly appearing to fill a man shaped container, before solidifying into a tall man, with black hair and a well tailored suit. He bowed to Naruto, before showing a savage grin, a mouth filled with more than a few too many teeth. "My name is Ingram of the North, though if you prefer you may refer to me as Gram. Welcome to the family, Uzumaki of the Winds."

AN: I'm back! And alive with a new story! I regret to inform avid readers of Sage of the Biju that I'm taking more of a break from it, and doing the cliche thing, re-writing it to better fit with my current writing style. I don't think I can return to the style I was writing it in originally anymore, at least not for any length of time, and the muse for it seems to have decided to move on. I hopefully can do some more writing in some spare time I have most days at school now, and this story should continue for a fair length. The basis of this story is something of a mix between Fullmetal Alchemist's world and Naruto, though mainly for uniforms and military fashions. You'll see more of what I mean later, though for now I can safely say that alchemy and homonculi won't make an appearance, nor will any of the recognizable characters from FMA. This universe is more focused on open military conflicts and Covert operations as seperate issues rather than the Naruto Verse's method of combining those. Hope you all enjoy the Journey.

~Lux Out.


	2. Winter

Winter

The winter in Konoha always came rapidly, a rush of cold bursting forth from the south, and quickly freezing over the land. The deeper center of the forest remained relatively warm in comparison to the rest of the country, but it was still rather cold within the pine wrapped village, as arctic winds tore through any attempts to deny them. Naruto didn't mind. His cloak blocked the wind on his face, and he'd always been warm enough despite his metal limbs, the Kyubi did a rather good job of keeping him alive and well, given its rather large interest in keeping him among he living.

The last month had passed over fairly quickly, as he was thrown headfirst into his sealing studies and an apprentenceship, to the leader of the sealing corps himself, Jiraiya of the Sannin no less. He had learned how to augment existing aspects, hid things behind illusions, and create power limiters and storage. His personal favorite was a nasty little number that both hid his prosthetics, and let him use a pair of gloves as both limiters and storage, that under normal operation would draw in and store chakra he produced beyond an ordinary level, and transfered the energy to his armor's gem. When he released the seals, the energy would overcharge his armor and his prosthesis, letting him either throw out a technique he didn't normally have the chakra for, or to use it to enhance his strength drastically.

He had fallen into a pattern of waking up, watering and trimming his bonsai, and slurping down a cup of ramen, before heading out to work, afterward heading out to train and pick up a mission for the day. The easy stuff was all taken by academy students, but there was always a C rank or two close to the village, usually just an escort to a farm a little too far out of Konoha for the client to feel safe going alone. The trips were enjoyable, mostly small families farming out a living in the small, clear cut plots of land sparsly populated around Konoha. Every so often, one of the children would ask about his arm, and he would regale them with wild tales, adventure and action aplenty, taking care to avoid telling the actual story. That mission was classified for a damn good reason.

He had met up with the others a few hours ago, the shinobi all sharing tales of their training. Hinata and Sakura had been roped into a traveling apprentinceship to Tsunade, yet another member of the Sannin, though in reality it had mostly been Tsunade's original apprentince, Shizune, who they had learned under. The others had been undergoing training with their clans, the usually quiet Shino seemingly buzzing, though that was sometimes literal, with conversation. Sasuke and Sai's tale had been a surprise though. They had somehow managed to land a deal with Orochimaru, the most reclusive member of the sannin, and both had evidently made out like bandits. Though, from the legends regarding the man himself, that probably wouldn't last long.

The tapping of feet on the roof behind him got his attention, turning around to find Jiraiya directly behind him, the only sign of his being there the noise on the roof. Naruto had long since lost the immediate shock of having someone like Jiraiya pop up behind you without any warning, but the look on the man's face nearly brought it back. Jiraiya was pissed.

"What's up, Sen-"

"Armor up. We need to leave, now." The interruption was curt and forceful, Jiraiya clearly holding in his rage to avoid damaging his immediate surroundings. Naruto nodded at the request, slapping his hand onto his gem, and in a swirl of darkness, he stepped forward, the familiar black and silver armor covering him like a second skin. His face was hidden behind an transparent visor that rapidly turned opaque.

"Orders?"

"Find Orochimaru. Do not engage. If at all possible, slap a power dampener on him, but avoid being near him when another burst hits."

"Burst?"

"He started ranting a little over an hour ago, and five minutes ago started releasing bursts of chakra, enough to fling you from twenty feet away. We need to find out what happened, and to determine that, we need him alive. That, and he'll flay you alive if he attacks you. Any of you."

Naruto nodded his acknowledgement, nicking his thumb and slamming his hand onto his gem. A burst of smoke, and a small, dark colored fox appeared on his shoulder, dark grey fur contrasting with a pure white underbelly.

"Transportation available. Destination?" The creature asked in a clipped tone, sitting to attention.

"Find Orochimaru, and get me there. Got the chakra for it, Ganz?" The fox took a deep sniff, before his eyes opened, a void staring out from within.

"I have him. Chakra influx will be required." As soon as Naruto tossed him a small treat that looked not unlike kibble, a portal stretched out of the air before them, the two Ninja and the Fox leaping through, before it faded out of existence.

* * *

A disturbance appeared on the trunk of a tree within the frost covered forest, rippling as they rushed through. A quick glance around located Orochimaru, currently leaning back against a tree, breathing heavily with his hand covering his face. They watched him for a moment, before a sudden contortion wracked the man's body, causing him to loose a scream of pain, before the world before them exploded.

* * *

Naruto woke up, quickly getting his bearings, finding Jiraiya currently facing off against Orochimaru. The snake Sannin looked paler than usual, as compared to the toad Sannin's almost golden gleam. With a burst of chakra, the two dissapeared. The impact that followed shook the trees, and threatened to throw him off of his feet, dispite the force with wich he stuck himself there. His armor deflected some of the debris, before another shock, this time further away hit. He dashed towards it, allowing the seals within the armor to boost his natural abilities as he raced between the trees, sometimes taking ninty degree turns as he felt the next shockwave. He gave chase, whirling this way and that as he tangenetally followed the combat.

He finally caught up, though what he found was no better than the helplessness that had been sneaking up on him. Jiraiya, on his knees in exhaustion, as an equally exhausted Orochimaru stood a small distance away. Jiraya's armor, red and golden, resembling a samurai's outfit, was falling apart around him, chunks missing from it here and there. Orochimaru was no better off, though he had foregone his own armor for a reason that was rapidly becoming apparent. Where his right arm should have been, was a flowing mass of blackened flesh, shifting and roiling as he watched it. Organs appeared, mouths, fingers, eyes, merging and shifting before returning to the flesh they were, continous, neverending. The sight nearly made him want to puke, but the sound it was making. The sound that vaguely told him, in some more primal portion of his mind, the sound that was the Kyubi itself screaming at him to get out of there, the sound that was nearly happy sounding.

Tekil-il! Tekil-il!

The chirping. The never ending chirping and piping of the limb, mouths moving, eyes wander, fingersturnintoeyesturnintomouthsturnintoflesh he hadtomovehadtogetoutcouldntmovecouldntbreathcoul-

"RUN!"

The scream snapped him out of it. And he did. He did. He engaged the armor, and his glove's seals, chakra screeching about him, lashing sharply out in every direction. He overloaded his hold on the ground, flinging himself skyward, and more importantly, away. He refocused, letting the chakra flow into Ganz, the fox's fur rippling, before opening the void that was its eyes, a portal appearing just in time for them to fly through. The rough and tumble landing, only a few miles away from the village, was all he could pull off as his excess chakra failed, his armor dissipating around him, landing hard on his prosthesis to take the brunt of the impact. Ganz dismissed himself before impact, allowing Naruto to go into a roll, popping back up and continuing to flee. The only reason he was still running, still alive, was that his sensei had sacrificed himself to stop that-that thing. He ran, as hard and fast as he could. All he could think was to get awaygetawaygetawa-

That was the last thought he had before he saw the flash of light, followed by the rumble. The rumble that was louder than anything he had ever heard. And that in turn, was followed by the shockwave. And then he thought no more.

* * *

Jiraya looked up at Orochimaru, panting as he heard the eldritch limb chirp faster, its noises getting more constant, more calm. The man himself gave off a grimace as what had been an arm seemed to flow further, taking more of his body, of its host.

"Why? Why did you do this?" He asked, grunting through the pain of several broken limbs, and more than a few snapped ribs.

"I had no choice, I-I no choice, there's nothing I can do to stop i-" He was cut off as the limb practically launched itself further, consuming almost his entire side, causing him to scream in pain. "Y-You have to get out of here. I can't stop it. Get out of here before I become.. Before I become bione of thembi." He cried out again, the amorphous mass consuming more and more of him, leaving him to collapse into a pile, his face all that remained looking out from the oily, shifting flesh. "Run, little Jiraiya-kun. Run... for me." With that, he was gone, the face melting back into the flesh, before the mass moved, flowing forward into an intricate sealing array, its body forming the lines, the runes, the circle, before it began to glow. And somewhere, somewhere deep inside Jiraiya, something snapped.

His face went still, before he flashed through hand seals faster than anyone had any right to move, slamming his hand down on the ground. With a burst of smoke, two small, wizened toads stood before him.

"So, it's finally gone and happened, eh Ma?" The one on the left stated plainly, nodding to the one on the right.

"Indeed Pa. Jiraiya-chan, I assume you're going to do what I think you're about to?" He nodded, the toads sighing with no small bit of apprehension. "Then you are prepared to deal with what was once your friend?" Another nod. "Very well, Jiraiya-chan. We shall provide what assistance we can."

He gave a sigh of relief as the toads hopped to his shoulders, before his face shifted, the red lines on his cheeks thickening, as his nose grew a wart, and seemed to snap, becoming crooked. Opening his eyes revealed a shift in the pigment, and slightly wider, flatter pupils. Jiraiya rolled his shoulders, as the intricate seal work along his body and across his clothes began to light up, brighter and brighter, before obscuring him entirely. A moment later, the light exploded outward in a massive blast that carried forth for many a mile. Anyone caught within the blast radius of that was going to either be dead, or unconscious, a mercy given what was coming, as the light seared through everything it came across. After several long moments, the light cleared, revealing the seal array to be far larger than it appeared, covering miles of what was once forest floor. He leaped backwards, reaching the edge of the array after a minute.

Anyone who could have seen what came next would either have gone mad, or be seen as such when attempting to explain it. Through the seal array, an impossibly large amount of flesh began to pour through, the black skin rippling and rolling, no longer a servitor, but something far worse, something far larger than the servitor that had just removed his best friend from the world. It gathered near the center, before forming into the massive arm of a giant, a shoulder and head forming soon after. The creature before him drew itself out of the seal up to what would be armpits on any normal creature, impossibly large, ludicrously fast. As he saw just what now rose before him, a grin came onto his face, unbidden, before he took a ready stance, chakra flaring and swirling around him, shattering the ground around him with its mere presence.

"Bring it on, Beasty."

AN: AND WE'RE BACK BABY! This is going to turn into my main story I do think. I hate not being able to write in the old style, but this new one, I LIKE IT! As always, read and review, love to hear from you guys, I really want to hear what you guys think of how I'm writing this one! See you all again soon.  
~Lux Out


End file.
